Wednesday, January 30, 2013

It’s a gloomy
stormy day in the Deep South, a perfect time to check for news of Southern
ghosts.

TacoLu Baja Mexicana

1712 Beach Boulevard

Jacksonville Beach, Florida

The famous and haunted
Homestead Restaurant has gone south, south of the border, that is. Opened in
1947, The Homestead Restaurant was, until a few years ago, a Jacksonville Beach
landmark known for its fried chicken and other Southern specialties. Sadly,
recent years have not been so kind to the restaurant or fat, sugar and
cholesterol laden Southern cuisine in general. The restaurant was closed for a
while but then reopened. Evidently, it was not the same and the restaurant
closed again. Recently, a local taco joint has taken up residence in this
haunted landmark and, according to a recent article in The Florida Times-Union, they’re still being visited by something
otherworldly.

After
inheriting the 1932 structure, Alpha Paynter opened the building that would
become the restaurant as a boarding house. As boarding houses fell out of
fashion, Mrs. Paynter opened the place as a restaurant, The Homestead
Restaurant. The place became known for its fried chicken as much as its kitschy
interior. Mrs. Paynter sold the restaurant in the early 1960s and died that
same year, though her indomitable spirit that built the successful restaurant
remained.

The tales of ghosts in the building go back
many years and have been widely recorded. A spirit, believed to be Alpha
Paynter, has been spirits and causes the occasional lighthearted disturbance.
But two other spirits in the restaurant may not be so lighthearted. Dave Lapham
reports in his Ghosthunting Florida
that there may be two other female spirits: the unhappy shades of two former
residents who committed suicide in the building 10 years apart.

A glance at the
menu shows no sign of a Fried Chicken Taco, perhaps that might be a good idea
to pay homage to Mrs. Paynter and her two spiritual companions.

Sources

FitzRoy,
Maggie. “Local legend lives on at Beaches restaurant.”

The Florida Times-Union. 27 January
2013.

Lapham, Dave. Ghosthunting Florida. Cincinnati, OH:
Clerisy Press,

2010.

Mills, Gary T.
“Dining Notes: TacoLu plans move to former Homestead

spot in Jacksonville Beach.” The Florida Times-Union. 31 August

2012.

Ijams Nature Center

2915 Island Home Avenue

Knoxville, Tennessee

The Ijams
Nature Center is reveling in its haunted side. The famed nature center is
hosting a ghost hunt for the public this upcoming Saturday. If I didn’t have a
previous engagement, I’d love to attend.

This public
park, established by bird expert Henry Ijams and the “First Lady of Knoxville
Garden Clubs,” Alice Yoe Ijams, serves to preserve nature within Knoxville and
educate the public. Except for information on the ghost hunt, I’ve not been
able to locate any details on the ghosts of the park, though I’ll be looking
forward to finding out more.

I really want
to find out how George Bunker-Clark died. The owner of the then St. George
Hotel, Bunker-Clark died in April 1923 during an ice cream social he was
hosting there for the community. So far, none of the sources have revealed the
actual circumstances of his death, though most report that he died at the rear
of the building.

Longwood Village Inn, 2007. Photo by Ebyabe, courtesy ofWikipedia.

The latest news
about the Longwood Village Inn is that the building is for sale. Built during
Florida’s first railroad boom in 1885, this historic hotel may get a second
chance during Florida’s second railroad boom in the very near future. With
support from the Federal government, state and local governments, SunRail is
being constructed. This rail system will connect Poinciana to DeLand through
the heart of downtown Orlando. The station linking Longwood will be constructed
just across the street from the inn.

But it seems
that George Bunker-Clark’s spirit is not the only one in the 30 room hotel. The
hotel has most recently been used as office space and workers in the old rooms
have reported the sounds of giggling and tapping while others have smelled
cigar smoke. Strange lights and apparitions round out the paranormal activity.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

I’m on the road
again, this time to southeast Alabama to explore a few hauntings here. As I
drove through rural Bullock County, I passed the road to a place called
Smuteye. This is a land that wears its history on its sleeve. As I drove
towards tonight’s destination, Ozark, I passed through small towns still
bearing the scars of Reconstruction. Slavery’s grim face still shown on the
streets and in the peeling paint of the grand, white houses lining the main
streets. Discounting the modern cars, in some places it could still be 1965 or
1920 or 1885.

Driving through
places like Union Springs, Brundidge, Tuskeegee, history is ever present.
Tuskeegee, where African-Americans under the watchful eye of Booker T.
Washington and George Washington Carver began to raise themselves from oppression
to tolerance to the hallowed halls of the White House, is sadly decaying with
the main street lined with crumbling old homes and boarded up commercial
buildings. Passing through Union Springs on AL-29, architectural gems of past
ages lined the street with occasional modern infill housing and run down mobile
homes butting up against the Greek-Revival, Italianate, and Victorian manses. Between
these towns churches every few miles remind travelers that this is God’s
country.

This is also a
land rife with ghosts, though most of these spirits are simply not discussed.
The purpose of this trip is ultimately to see the Rawls Hotel in Enterprise,
though I’m finding a few other hauntings along the way to occupy my interest.
Had I done my research before my drive, I would have stopped in Union Springs
to photograph the three possibly haunted locations in downtown: the Bullock County Courthouse, the Pauly Jail and the Josephine Hotel.

All three
locations have been investigated by the Alabama Paranormal Research Team with
the courthouse and the jail investigated in 2009 and the hotel investigated the
following year. According to the investigation reports they have published on
their site, activity was uncovered in the courthouse and the hotel, but the
jail, oddly, seemed quiet.

Bullock County Courthouse, 2000, taken by the US Dept.
of Agriculture.

The Second
Empire style Bullock County Courthouse was constructed in 1871-2, during
Reconstruction. It was here that the paranormal team was told of the
frightening photograph of a Confederate soldier hanging inside. Recently, one
of the sheriffs reported that the portrait made him feel uneasy, to the point
that he had the photograph covered. In addition, there were reports of the elevators
operating on their own volition, which is not an uncommon occurrence. The
investigation revealed some odd activity in the courtroom including odd static
charges coming from the floor and certain seats. Some EVPs were recorded and a
few strange photos were taken.

Behind the courthouse,
the intimidating Pauly Jail stands. Named for the Pauly Jail Building and
Manufacturing Company which constructed it in 1897, the jail is the oldest jail
still in existence in the state. Unfortunately, the building produced no
results during the investigation.

Just down the
street stands the old Josephine Hotel which is now home to the Josephine Arts
Center. This 1880 hotel did reveal some paranormal activity. At one point
during the investigation, the investigators witnessed an orb of light moving
through a hallway. Upon reviewing the video collected at the hotel, this orb
was found to have been captured. In addition, an EVP was also collected. This
was enough evidence for the organization to indicate that there is some
activity within the building.

Down the road
in Dale County outside of the town of Newton is the peculiar “Choctawhatchee Bridge Hole.” Legend
tells us the sad story of Bill Sketoe, who was put to death near the bridge over
the Choctawhatchee River which now carries Alabama Highway 123. In 1864, when
the Confederate Army was desperate for manpower, poor Bill Sketoe was arrested
by a company of soldiers and accused of desertion. Arguing that he had hired a
substitute to fight on his behalf, Sketoe was hung from a nearby water oak. The
amateur hang man misjudged Sketoe’s height and his feet were still touching the
ground after the noose was tightened. One of the men slowly scraped away the
dirt from under Sketoe’s feet and he was slowly strangled, most certainly a
brutal death.

For years, the
hole remained and refused all efforts to fill it. Kathryn Tucker Windham
immortalized this story in her 1969 13
Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. Sadly, this was not enough to save the actual
hole. When a new bridge was built to carry AL-123 over the river, the hole was
covered. Though, the hole was recreated in a nearby park. Of course, it isn’t
the same.

The point of
this trip is to make a pilgrimage to the Rawls Hotel that I have previously written about, though I will be stopping past
the recreation of Bill Sketoe’s hole as well. This is a fascinating landscape
and I hope to find more about the spirits of the region.

Sources

Alabama Paranormal
Research Team. Investigation Report for
Bullock County

Courthouse. Accessed 29 November 2012.

Alabama Paranormal
Research Team. Investigation Report for
The Josephine

Monday, January 14, 2013

The earliest available image of the Drish Mansion from a 1907postcard.

Last week saw
much celebration in Tuscaloosa and across the Deep South as fans of the
University of Alabama’s football team, the “Crimson Tide,” celebrated the
team’s victory over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game after a
nearly perfect season. But this is also a city that has seen the depths of
despair after a massive EF4 tornado struck the city in 2011. The tornado cut a
huge swath through the city killing some 44 and injuring scores more. After
leaving Tuscaloosa the funnel barreled through rural Alabama flattening homes
and small communities before striking Birmingham.

As the tornado
swept through the eastern portion of Tuscaloosa, the tower of the Drish Mansion
would have afforded a nearly front-row seat. The tornado first touched down in
neighboring Greene County and then moved towards Tuscaloosa almost following
the route of I-20. The mansion sits on a small knoll in a traffic island where 17th
and 23rd Streets intersect, close to the intersection of I-359 and
15th Street. The tower of the mansion would have afforded a
spectacular view of the 1.5 mile funnel as it began its rampage through the
city. Crossing I-359, the tornado slammed into Rosedale Park about a mile south
of the Drish Mansion. The funnel cloud continued through the city ripping its way
through residential and commercial areas and devastating this mighty university
town.

Devastation from the 2011 tornado in Tuscaloosa. Photo fromthe US Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District. Releasedunder a Creative Commons License.

This would not be
the first nor the last tornado this manse will witness and it only adds to a
lengthy list of tragedies it has seen. Seemingly, every time I begin research
on this home it seems that another tragedy or tragic period appears. Glancing
through the WPA guide to Alabama (originally published in 1941 and revised in
1975), I discovered a statement that the house was used to house Confederate
prisoners of war after the battle of Shiloh in 1862. Add this to years of other
tragedies and you have a host of ghosts on hand.

The most
striking feature of the house is an elegant, Italianate-style tower that rises
from the façade. It is somewhat at odds with the obviously Greek revival
architecture but the overall effect is quite imposing. According to David
Higdon and Brett J. Talley in their recent Haunted
Tuscaloosa, the tower was also used to appease one of the vices of the
home’s builder, Dr. John Drish. He is described as a jealous man and the tower
was used to observe the building of the Jemison house (now known as the
Jemison-Van de Graaf Mansion and also haunted), being built by rival planter
Robert Jemison, Jr.

It is also this
tower upon one of the house’s many ghost stories is centered. Dr. Drish is
described by Kathryn Tucker Windham as being a man who “gambled and drank—and
did both very poorly.” In an alcoholic rage one night in 1867, Dr. Drish
stumbled to the staircase where he uttered a shriek and dropped dead. Before
the funeral, Sarah, Dr. Drish’s wife, had the body lay in state in the home
with candles surrounding the bier. Following his interment at Greenwood
Cemetery, she stored the candles away with strict orders that the same candles
be used during her own funeral. When she passed away in 1884, the candles could
not be located. Since that time, passersby at night have witnessed flames
leaping from the tower, the vengeful acts of an earthbound and unhappy spirit.

The Drish Mansion, 1934. Photo by W. N. Manning for theHistoric American Buildings Survey. Courtesy of the Libraryof Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

The 20th
century saw the degradation of this beautiful house. The 1941 publication of
Walker Evans’ Let Us Now Praise Famous
Men, attests to it with a photograph of the Drish House serving as the
Tuscaloosa Wrecking Company. Photos from the Library of Congress show the
delicate architecture marred as the building served as an auto parts store. In
the 1950s, the home became part of Southside Baptist Church which was built
adjoining the house. The church remained, obtrusively sticking off one side of
the house, until its demolition in 2009. The house is now owned by the
Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society who is working to return this home to
its antebellum splendor.

Rear view of the Drish Mansion, 1934. Note the junked cars.Photo by W. N. Manning for the Historic American Building Survey.Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

The porch of the Drish Mansion, 1936.Photo by Alex Bush for the Historic American Building Survey.Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Front Hall of the house, Photo by W. N. Manning for the Historic American Building Survey.Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Shelves of auto parts in one room. Photo by W. N. Manning for the Historic American Building Survey. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

The mansion in 2010 by Carol Highsmith. Courtesy ofthe George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographsin Carol M. Highsmith's American Project in the Carol M.Highsmith Archive. Library of Congress, Prints and PhotographsCollection.

Scope

This guide covers the states of the American southeast, south from the Mason-Dixon Line to Florida and from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River and is inclusive of Louisiana. States included are Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the District of Columbia.